[New York, NY: 1 June 97] THE MOTHER of an intersexed infant who was a victim of
Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) at just over 5 months of age has started a support
group for parents of intersexed children. Helena Smith of Jacksonville, Florida
announced formation of HELP: Hermaphrodite Education & Listening Post to help other
parents cope with the enormous pressures of bringing up intersexed children.

Mrs. Smith's own child, Patrick, had been admitted to Baptist Wolfson Hospital in
Jacksonville to have a single undescended testicle removed. While the infant was
there, the attending pediatric urologist asked to test the remaining gonad for
cancer.

But, according to the Ms. Smith, the doctor instead tested the gonad to
ascertain if it was an ovo-teste - an organ containing both ovarian and testicular
tissue. When he found that it was, he cut it off without her authorization or consent.

when she confronted the doctor, he told her the organ was malignant and had to be
removed. However after months of struggling with the hospital and the doctor, Mrs. Smith
finally obtained the pathology report on her child which confirmed what she had suspected
all along: there was nothing wrong with her healthy child except that it was intersexed.

Said Mrs. Smith in a telephone interview, "This has traumatized and wounded
both of us terribly. Patrick is the most wonderful, precious gift I was ever blessed
with, from the day he was born. He was perfect the was he was, until a doctor
decided to cut him up and try to make him into a girl -- without my consent or his - at
just 5 months of age."

She added that Patrick refuses to be categorized as a boy or a girl; when asked
which he is, he'll only say, "I'm Pat-Pat," his name for himself. Mrs. Smith has
retained counsel and a suit is currently pending against the hospital and surgeon.

A new book has just been published on the use of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) to
treat "pre-homosexual" children. The practice, increasingly described by gender
activists as Psychiatric Abuse of Gender-Variant Children (PAGC), has come
under fire as groups including the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, BiNet USA, the
National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Transexual Menace have stepped up pressure on
the American Psychiatric Association to reform the diagnosis as applied to both
children and adults.

The book, "Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and
Adolescents," by Kenneth Zucker, Ph.D. and Susan Bradley, M. D., was recently and
favorably reviewed by NARTH, the National Association for the Research,
Treatment and Prevention of Homosexuality, and leaves few illusions as to how GID is
being used to "cure" gender-variance and homosexuality in children.

"...the family histories associated with childhood GID are closely related to the
common developmental pathways leading to homosexuality; and, as research has shown,
the majority of gender-disordered children grow up to be homosexual or bisexual."

"...Because GID children are usually pre-homosexual, gay-activist groups have been
working to remove the GID category from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual... Zucker
and Bradley quote Richard Green, who persuasively states, `Who is to dictate that
parents may not try to raise their children in a manner that maximizes the possibility of
a heterosexual outcome?'"

"To defend the concept that GID is a disorder, Zucker and Bradley quote Spitzer
and Endicott's useful definition -- a psychological condition characterized by
`distress, disability and disadvantage.'"

Said author Phyllis Burke, whose recent book, "GenderShock," details the toll PAGC
extracts from genderqueer children, "The diagnosis of GID in children, as supported by
Zucker and Bradley, is simply child abuse."

CONTACT:

[New York, NY: 1 Jun 97] DEMET DEMIR, a transexual woman and the first person ever
considered a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International because of sexual
orientation, will be one of 3 activists given the 1997 Felipa de Souza Award for exemplary
service to their communities. The award will be given on June 2nd by the International Gay
and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).

Ms. Demir is from Cihangir, a district of Istanbul, and has worked on behalf of gay
men, lesbians, transvestites, transexuals, and sex workers throughout Turkey. She has
been imprisoned numerous times, tortured, had her home broken into and her telephone cables
cut in efforts to silence her. Even in her efforts to attend this month's ceremony,
Turkey has refused to issue her a passport.

Her accounts of aggressive persecution by Cihangir police are emblematic of the
plight of transgendered people in Turkey. Reports from the Turkish gay group, Lambda
Istanbul, state that Turkey's transexual and transvestite community have been facing
vicious attacks from police in Cihangir, including torture while in police custody.

[New York, NY: 25 April 97] CLUB EDELWEISS, New York City's last remaining bar for
transpeople, their friends, and admirers was closed today. The New York Times reported
that the closing was linked to neighborhood complaints that sex workers who frequented
the premises were soliciting at all hours on the surrounding streets.

However, customers of the bar allege that the closing is more likely the result of
Mayor Rudolph Guliani's "Disney-fication" effort to clean-up Times Square's image.
Said Hal Weiner of the law firm Coles & Weiner PC, representing Club Edelweiss in its
bid to re-open, "The city has just as much of an obligation, under the Human Rights Laws,
to protect the rights of its gay and transgender patrons to peaceably associate
as it does to annoy and harass them under the Nuisance Laws."

[New York, NY: 2 May 97] A FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT has held that transexuals are protected
under New York State and City Human Rights Laws. This ruling contravenes long-standing
Federal Title VII precedent which holds that transexuals are not a protected class. The
court noted, "...every federal court that has considered the question has rejected the
application of Title VII to a transexual claiming employment discrimination." But
added, "The interpretation of the state HRL and the city HRL is independent of
the federal law analysis."

The case involves a complaint filed by Corinne Rentos, a transgender woman who
alleges that her former employer subjected her to sexual harassment and sexual
discrimination in violation of State and City Human Rights Laws.

A RETRACTION

[New York, NY: 27 May 97] WELL, IT looked too good to be true and the Utah story was
indeed a hummer (although we still like the "Defense of Delling Act (DODA))."

Paul Varnell of Chicago's WINDY CITY TIMES writes: "The Utah 'Farmer in the Dell' story
is, alas, a hoax. Several people have now checked into it and found that there is no
Brigham Elementary, there was no emergency school board and that the incident did not
occur. This little story has gotten 'way' too much attention."

And Wendy Johson of the WASHINGTON BLADE writes: "Just so you know: I noticed that you
included the 'Farmer in the Dell' story in your latest media advisory. I recieved an
email from one of the original senders of that story alerting me that it was an
April Fool's joke and never really happened."

This item lacked a byline when it was submitted to us; in the future, we will no
longer publish anything which lacks a verifiable source. In the meantime, we
humbly apologize and offer this retraction from the depths of our well-worn kneepads.
(As we write, we are also wearing clamps on some unmentionable part of our bodies as
added penance.)